Those examples you cited all look like commercial examples, none of which I've tasted so I chose "something else". The rye beer I have in mind is one I made last fall and in fact is in the que to brew again in a couple of weeks. It's called AP Rye beer, and you can find the recipe on Beertools.com. I know you would prefer a partial mash and this recipe is AG, but AG really isn't any more difficult than a partial mash, so go for it.

There are a couple of things I changed in the original recipe I should tell you about. First, with all that rye and wheat malt the mash is really thick so I added some rice hulls. I only had about 1/2 pound on hand and still had hard time with the lauter, so next time I'm going to use a pound. The second thing is personal preference and is at your discretion. The original recipe calls for Hefeweizen yeast. I don't like Hefeweizen, so I substituted WY1007 German Ale yeast. The result was really tasty. So give this recipe a try. If you have trouble finding it on the web site just let me know and I'll post it here.

Thanks for the encouragement... I suppose it's time to start getting into AG, though I might try converting your recipe into an extract + mini-mash at first. I'm really interested in the results you got with that German Ale yeast (I'm not a huge Hefeweizen fan, either).

Thanks again for posting a reply! I'm all out obsessed with rye right now (never saw it coming; before I started brewing I never really paid much attention to rye beers) and I'm aiming to brew as many recipes as I can in an effort to satisfy my rye-lust.

I figured that since you're capable of doing a partial mash it's only a matter of time until you take the plunge into to AG. It seems like the natural progression for most brewers. The limiting factor seems to be the size of the mash tun.

I'm not sure about converting to an extract or partial mash version of the recipe. I think the problem you'll have is finding a source for rye malt extract. I did a quick Google search and came up empty. Since the recipe is 53% rye malt you're probably stuck with doing AG unless you can find some extract. And like I said in my previous post, if you try the AG version of this recipe do yourself a favor and use plenty of rice hulls. All that rye makes the run off thick and slow and you don't want a stuck sparge. Good luck!

I like both the Founders red and the ryepa. Planning to brew a rye ipa next saturday. Still fiddling with the recipe. Any tips beyond beyond the ratios of rye to other base malts? thinking about a hops; citrussy or spicy? Thoughts?????

milligan101 wrote:I like both the Founders red and the ryepa. Planning to brew a rye ipa next saturday. Still fiddling with the recipe. Any tips beyond beyond the ratios of rye to other base malts? thinking about a hops; citrussy or spicy? Thoughts?????

I think Founders Rye uses Amarillo. One famous homebrew recipes is Denny's Rye IPA, which uses a mix of Columbus and Mt. Hood. Denny says he tried a lot of combinations until he found one that worked best with the Rye Malt, in his estimation, and it has been quite popular among those that have brewed it.

The big issue with rye is that it makes for a gummy mash. Having a good crush, with a lot of intact husks will help the lauter through the rye. If you ever come close to a slow or stuck run-off, you might want to buy some rice hulls or try malt conditioning, if you grind your own grain.